Golden Sun: The Dark Crystal
by metallover
Summary: 20 years after the elemental lighthouses have been lit, the world is returning to a state of moral decay, and it's up to one aloof man, a talkative djinni, and a mysterious girl, to save them all. Discontinued
1. Chapter 1

_I've been messing around with Golden Sun fics for a while, now, but nothing really worked. So, I decided, what the fudge, time to try again. _Dark Crystal_ was originally going to be a trillogy, back when I was an ambitious little kid (and didn't have a freakin job), and I screwed around with that for a while, but recently when I was playing Golden Sun, I decided to do another go, and do a single story (still with chapters and all that)._

**Prologue: The World Today**

Fifteen years. It's been fifteen years since the lighthouses were lit, and light returned to the world. Adepts left and right, Djinni everywhere, and monsters being purged like animals. Life on Angara had finaly returned to the way it was, the way it should have been. Issac and Felix led a great crusade to purge the Northern Continents of monsters, and succeded to the point where it's safe to go out at night again. Mia returned to Imill, Garret in tow. The two have four children. Jenna and Isaac, too, married, having two children. Sheeba and Felix parted ways, despite the obvious feelings for each other. Piers returned to Lemuria soon after the first purge, and is now the official military commander. He settled down with a Lemurian woman, and had two offspring. Ivan returned to me at and we have lived together as a family since. Ivan has begun having visions. In his visions, he sees a great darkness overcoming the land. I have also been having visions of late. In my visions I have seen a young man, a soldier wielding a flaming sword vanquishing the darkness soon to overpower the land.

_- Master Hama_


	2. Chapter 2

_This is the first chapter, and a flashback at that. I can almost hear the "Flashback!? NOOOOOOOO!"s. Well, TS. Read and enjoy._

**Chapter 1: Flashback - Sheeba meets the Dark Samurai**

_10 Years Ago_

Sheeba's heart was thuding, her breath coming out in rasps, but still she ran on. For to stop was to invite certain death. Or worse.

"Oi, come back girly!" a male voice called after her. "We won't hurt you!"

"Yeah, we won't hurt you! Much!" a second male voice called out.

_Gotta keep going_ she repeated to herself again and again. Bandits were pretty common in the Mogal Forest these days, especially with the new Adept powers given to almost everyone. It was big, and easy to loose a tail in. If you knew the place. Sheeba didn't. She was only one person, one small, fragile, frightened person, running for her life from two obviously drunken assailents.

Concentrating on these thoughts, she failed to see the tree root untill she was on the ground next to it.

"Got you now, girlie," the first man said, coming to a stop a few metres away.

"Don't worry, you might even enjoy it," the second said, coming out of the bushes to her right.

_I'm dead, I'm dead. Oh god I hope they have the decency to kill me when they're done. Oh god--_

_"Pyroclasm!"_

With tat exclamation, a jet of flam flashed from beneath one man, incinerating him. The other saw this, and screamed.

_"Liquifier!"_

The other man was reduced to a steaming puddle in a matter of seconds by a bright light that came from behind Sheeba. Unfortunatley, she'd already blacked out.

Sheeba woke to an unfamiliar ceiling. She slowly put her hands to her head, and gingerly felt at the bandages there.

"Good, you're awake."

Sheba started and sat up, the movement proving to be too much for the wounded girl. Before she fell back to the pillow and into unconciousness, she got a brief glimpse of a man she'd never seen before, wearing a black coat, with the hilt of what appeared to be a very large sword sticking up from behind his shoulder.

Sheeba awoke again, sitting up slowly this time. Day had turnned to night, and the stars were shining brightly. The young man that she'd seen before, lying with his arms resting on the edge of the bed, and his head sitting atop them, his face lying on the sheets.

"Hey," she whispered, nudging his now swordless shoulder. "Wake up."

He just grunted and resettled his head into a more comfortable position.

"Wake up," she tried again, a little louder this time, prodding him a little harder.

He shot up, reeling backwards. When he saw who had woken him, he said "Oh, it's just you." Standing and stretching, he said "Don't scare me like that."

"Who are you?" Sheeba asked suspiciously. "Why did you save me?"

The man looked perplexed. "What do you mean?" he asked, obviously confused.

"Well, who really goes out of their way to help someone they've never met before?" Sheeba asked, her suspiscion growing. "It just doesn't happen any more."

"Well, I still believe in honour and chivilary and all that," he answered. "Now lie back down and get some rest. You smacked your head pretty hard back there."

Sheeba realized she was dizzy. "I might just do that," she said, complying with his instruction.

"Don't worry," he added, sitting back in his chair. "I'll protect you."

"Who are you?" she asked woozily.

The man smiled. "Call me Ramiel. Now rest."

Ramiel woke before his charge. He promissed to protect her, so he would. It was as simple as that. His father had allways said _A true man doesn't go back on his word, and he protects those that need it_.

_I try every day, father, i really do_ Ramiel thought, walking out of the inn at Xiang.

It was a beautiful day, birds singing, not a cloud in the sky, the town coming to life around him. In spite of himself, he smiled. Life here was good. Maybe he could hang around for a while. The people seemed friendly enough, and the scenery was great. But the girl was headed in the opposite direction, so he might have to accompany her to wherever she was going, first. His first quest! He'd been looking forward to this day for years, ever since his father had told him stories of the great adventurer he'd once been.

Ramiel wandered back into the inn, and walked up the stairs to his room. As he entered, he saw the girl sitting up, taking in her surroundings.

"Hey," he greeted her, sitting in his seat and helping himself to an apple from the bowl on the bedside table.

"Good morning," she said groggily. "So, ready to tell me where I am, yet?"

"Sure," Ramiel answered, taking another bite of his apple. "You're in the Xiang Inn. I saved you from two attackers that intended you bodily harm. Then I paid for a room at the Inn, put you in that bed, and made sure you were safe."

"Ah," Sheeba said. "And you did all this for me why?"

Ramiel shrugged. "Call it a 'Damsel in Distress' complex, if you will. I saw you needed help, so I helpped. If it's a problem, next time I won't."

"No, it's not that," Sheeba said hastily. "It's just that only one other person's ever gone out of their way to help me like that."

Her thoughts returnned to Felix. Felix jumping off the Venus Lighthouse to save her, Felix telling the others off for trying to make her stay behind, Felix and her kissing right before she left New Vale for her journey to find herself.

Ramiel nodded sagely, continuing to eat his apple.

The two sat in near silence for a while, Sheeba remembering Felix, and Ramiel eating his apple, unill he finished it, and stood.

"Well, where were you headed, and how long will it take for us to get there?" he asked, putting his coat back on.

"We?" Sheeba asked.

"Can't let a pretty young girl travell alone in this part of the world," Ramiel told her. "Too dangerous. I feel it's my duty to see you to where you're headed."

"Are you right in the head?" she asked him. "You don't even know me."

He strapped his sword to his back. "Well, you're welcome to take your chances in the forest with the bandits, if you'd prefer."

Sheeba laughed, a little nervously. "Well when you put it that way, I'd be honoured if you'd accompany me to my destination." _May as well, no one else is gonna help me_ she thought.

The two set out later that day, after Ramiel had eaten more than half of the fruit bowl, and headed back to the Mogal Forest. Ramiel was in high spirits, and after confiding in Sheeba this was his first 'quest' as he put it. Sheeba, however, was a little more sombre, having to return to the place that nearly killed her. She'd taken off the bandages, and had retrieved her light sword and staff, which Ramiel had had the prescence of mind to carry back to town with him, and was ready for just about anything.

Five years ago she'd been one of the great heroes that lit the last two lighthouses, Jupiter and Mars, and had collected all the original Djinni, elemental Summons, and braved the most terrifying monsters known to man kind. She'd seen werewolves, Lemurians, giant scorpions, dragons, and other things that made her skin crawl. And, yet, now she was just as weak as she was back when Saturos and Menardi had kidnapped her from Babi's Palace in Tolbi.

Ramiel had said he was a powerful adept, and had been training for the last five years. That one of the new Adepts would be able to master powerfull psynergy like Pyroclasm and Liquifier in such a short time, without the aid of constant travells and monsters or Djinni, was incredible. He was truely gifted in the powers of fire and Mars.

Before she knew it, they'd reached the edge of the forest.

"Well, it's no turnning back now," Ramiel said to her.

Sheeba nodded, and took the last few steps into the forest.

_Hope everyone enjoyed it, cause that's it for a while. I'm focusing all my creative energy on my Warhammer story _War of Dawn_. Sorry for any disapointment. I'll update at a later time._


	3. Chapter 3

_I know I said I was going to work on my other stuff for a while, but hey, I work on what I feel like. So, you know, read and enjoy._

**Chapter 2: The World Today**

Ramiel awoke with a throbbing in his arm. He'd been stabbed the day before, that was right. Another barfight over a pretty barmaid. No one had any honor any more. It was sickening, to see a man put his hands on a woman without her consent. But the most distressing thing was that no one cared any more.

He sat up, and remembered where he was. The inn at Tolbi. In a dinky little room, his sword leaning up against the wall opposite his bed, his coat sitting on the back of the chair in his room.

Getting up, and testing his injured arm, he moved to put his coat on, when he heard a woman scream from bellow the window.

"No! Get off!"

With an angry sigh, he fished out his knife, a twelve inch piece of mithril, serrated on one side to cause maximum harm to an enemy, and jumped out of the window.

His first impression was a young girl, no more than fifteen or sixteen, was being attacked by two older men. With a snarl he cut the throat of one of them from behind, and threw his knife into the other man. It embedded itself in the man's heart, and with one final gurgle, he fell.

Ramiel looked down at the girl. She was pretty, probably a barmaid or something similar. Her dark red hair cascaded over her face, and her body shook with sobs.

"Get up," Ramiel said, bending to retrieve his knife, no emotion in his voice at all. "They're dead. You're safe, now go home."

She didn't reply, just sat and sobbed.

"Aren't you listening!?" Ramiel said, more forcefully. "Go home!"

Her face snapped up, and he was hit by a wave of recolection. _She looks like..._

"I can't!" the girl screammed.

"Well, that's not my problem, is it?" he said to her, choosing to ignore the feeling, and turnned to go back to the inn.

In the ten years since his meeting with Sheeba, he'd seen it all. Murderrers, psychopaths, cultists, rapists, everything under the sun. At first the people he saved were gratefull, so relieved he'd saved them that they gave him a place to stay for a while, food to eat. But after a while, the things he was doing to save people was getting worse. Killing entire cults, having to dismember people in front of children, and even once having to tear a man limb from limb with his bare hands. After a while, he began to get a sour taste in his mouth, and started thinking _why me?_ He'd allways hellped those that needed it, but recently it just became pointless. For every person he saved, three more died because he couldn't help them. All the big cities of the world became pits of debauchery and sin, and he just couldn't be at all of them at once. Even New Vale, one of the most peacefull cities in the known world, began having problems.

"Wait!" she screamed. "You can't just leave me here, there's going to be more of them!"

Ramiel stopped. Maybe it was her resemblance to Sheeba, or the fact that someone genuinely needed him for once, but he said "Fine. Come with me."

"Oh, thank you so much!" the girl yelled, running over and attatching herself to Ramiel's arm. "Thank you so much."

Ramiel walked into his room, having pried the clinging girl off his arm about halfway up the stairs. He really didn't like the way people, especially women, thought they had to pay him back for helping them. It made for some really awkward situations.

"Where do you want to go?" he asked, lying on his bed, putting his hands behind hs head.

"I don't know," She said, sitting on the edge of his bed.

"Well, better decide, cause I'm going south," he told her.

"No!" she exclaimed. "Are you willing to go North?"

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Ramiel agreed.

"What, just like that?" she asked, a little suspiciously. "You don't even know my name."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"Sasha."

"Well, get your crap together, I'm going soon."

"This is all I've got left," she said quietly. The two sat in silence for a while, until Ramiel sat up.

"Okay then, let's go," he said with a sigh. "I hate this city, anyway."

The silk road had become a thriving highway, with a large ammount of traffic travelling in both directions. Merchants, travelling preformers, everything under the sun could be found somewhere on the highway. It was one giant black market, and because it wasn't part of any city, Xian and Tolbi were powerless to stop the peddlers.

_I hate this highway, too, come to think about it_ Ramiel thought, looking around. _Too crowded._

The girl, Sasha, had calmed down, and was wrapped in Ramiel's black coat. She still walked fairly close to Ramiel, but he was used to stuff like that. It was a cold Autumn day, the leaves on the trees had almoast all fallen off, and the days were getting shorter. Not to mention the cold.

_It's really, really cold without my coat_ he thought, surpressing a shiver.

"Are you cold?" she asked him.

"Not really," he told her. "It's fine."

She shrugged a little and gave a small yawn. It was starting to get late, and they'd been walking all day. The duo had gotten to the openning of the silk road, and could see the fires of the many merchant caravans and vendor stalls.

"I don't want to have to run the gauntlet until tomorrow morning," Ramiel said. "So we'll rest out here tonight."

Sasha's face took on a shocked quality. "Out here? With no beds, no anything? Are you nuts!?"

"I've heard that so much it's lost all meaning," He said to her, walking towards the woods. "We'll sleep in the woods so that I can hear when someone's sneaking up on us. Besides, you've got my coat, you'll be fine."

With a groan she ran to catch up with Ramiel. They settled into the woods under a large oak tree, with Ramiel taking the first watch.

"I'll wake you up later, so I can get some sleep, too," he told Sasha. "It's easy. All you do is wake me up if you hear something coming. There are still some wolves and virmin around here, but I should be able to handle them."

Sasha sighed. "I've never camped out before. This is kinda fun, except for the whole cold thing."

"I'd light a fire, but you said there were people following you," Ramiel explained, settling down a respectful distance from the girl. "I don't know how far they're willing to go to get you back. I don't want to risk it."

Sasha yawnned, much wider this time.

"Get some sleep. I don't need you falling asleep during your guard turn."

Sasha nodded, and let her chin rest on her chest, closing her eyes. Pretty soon she was fast asleep.

Ramiel sighed. For ten years he'd been wandering around aimlesly, helping those in need. He'd had the chance for a life, a woman to care for him, possibly children, but he'd given it all up. He'd chosen the life of a hero over the life of a quiet family man.

Ramiel was sick of it.

He was sick of not having anything to show for his choices, sick of not having any companionship, and sick to death of killing. As a mercenary for Tolbi in the wars he'd done his fair share of it, and even now he had to kill to save lives. The end didn't justify the means. It was a viscious cycle. One Ramiel knew would never end. Not with his death, not with the death of every villian, but only with the deaths of all humanity. Ramiel knew for a fact that would never happen.

He looked at the girl.

While she slept, her face relaxed as she let her guard down. She lookes surprisingly similar to Sheeba, but with different hair colour and higher cheekbones. He contemplated his companion by the moonlight streaming down through the trees.

She was beautiful. Or, at least, would be when she was a little older. He didn't like younger women. At least not _that_ young. Besides, there was only room enough in his heart for one woman.

_Darkness. Nothing else. A light. Nothing more than a pinprick in the distance. It tries to move, but can't. It screams, yells for someone to help it. Darkness is all that answers it. It starts to cry. It can't remember anything. What was it's name? What was it's purpose? How did it get in the darkness? It doesn't remember. It screams again, this time a primal roar of pain, hoping beyond hope that it's cries will be heard. _

_It decides, that if no one's going to help it, it's going to help itself._

_Things, no more than muscle memories, start to happen. The mind has forgotten, but the body still clings to memory._

_Fingers twitch. Power unimaginable courses through it. With a final cry it shatters it's prison. The darkness still surrounds it, but it is welcom now. Almoast soothing._

"Wake up. It's time to wake up."

Sasha twitched again in her sleep.

"Up, damnit!"

With this last shout she bolted upright, as if trying to escape something.

"Oh crap, watch out!" Ramiel yelled, throwing himself backwards before her head colided with his. "What the hell?!"

"Sorry," Sasha said breathlessly, wiping the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. "Bad dream."

"Right, okay," Ramiel said, getting back up. "Well, it's your turn to take watch, just don't fall asleep." He sat down in between the roots of the great oak, and closed his eyes.

"Remember, if you're attacked, just wake me up," Ramiel said, his eyes still closed.

"Sure," Sasha agreed, pulling her knees up to her chest and resting her chin on them. It was after midnight, and the moon was low in the sky. Morning wasn't far off.

"What am I doing?" she asked herself, not expecting an answer.

"Well, it looks like you're sitting wearing the big guy's cloak," a small voice answered.

"Ramiel! Wake up!" She screamed, scooting back towards the swordsman.

"He won't wake up," the voice said.

"Who are you? What do you want?" she asked, trying to sound brave.

A small grey thing that looked like an elongated teardrop with feathers for ears bounced into the clearing. It's large purple eyes shone with inteligence.

"My name is Squall, and I'm here because I think you're interesting," it said out of it's small mouth.

"Wait, you're the one talking to me?" she asked, fear turnning into surprise.

The little creature did another hop, bringing it closer to her. "I don't see anyone else around here. Well, except for that guy, but he's pretty out of it."

Sasha looked back at Ramiel, who was still snoring softly, a thin trickle of drool running from the corner of his mouth.

"What did you do to him?" she asked, giving the sleeping warrior a nudge.

"A sleep spell, pretty low level, but he wasn't expecting it, so I got him."

"A spell?" the girl asked, turning back to face the grey thing. "What are you?"

"I'm a Jupiter Djinni." Squall said, taking the las bounce towards her. "That means I serve the wind element, and I've been sent to teach you how to harness it's power."

"Oh. Okay," Sasha said, a little confused. "What about him?"

The djinni looked past her shoulder.

"He'll wake up sooner or later."

_Yeah. It was a little short. But I wanted to... uh... well, submit it. Couldn't wait. Needed to. So stay tuned! There will (hopefully) be more chapters coming soon. Depends on how I feel, and what I feel like working on. _


End file.
